Reputation Systems Symposium |
|
FIRST INTERDISCIPLINARY SYMPOSIUM ON REPUTATION MECHANISMS IN ONLINE COMMUNITIES MIT, CAMBRIDGE, MA APRIL 26-27, 2003 The production of trust is an important requirement for forming and growing open online communities. Online reputation reporting systems, such as eBay's well-known feedback mechanism, have emerged as an important trust building mechanism in such settings. The rising practical importance of online reputation systems invites rigorous research in this largely virgin territory. Do these systems truly promote efficient market outcomes? To what extent can they be manipulated by strategic buyers and sellers? What is the best way to design them? How should buyers (and sellers) use the information provided by such mechanisms in their decision-making process? This is just a small subset of unanswered questions, which invite exciting and valuable research. In order to answer those questions, collaboration is needed between several traditionally distinct disciplines, such as economics, computer science, marketing, law, sociology and psychology. In each of those communities, researchers are actively working on aspects of reputation systems and their work has been well received within their own disciplines. Some researchers have described part of the design space of on-line reputation mechanisms. Others have employed game-theoretic analysis of the conditions under which reputation mechanisms should work, despite strategic behavior on the part of participants. There have been many empirical studies of whether reputation affects price and probability of sale at eBay. Yet these studies only begin to answer the fundamental questions posed above. There is little theory or empirical evidence about how individuals are using reputation information in their decision making, or how new members of on-line communities are socialized into the norms governing use of reputation mechanisms. We still do not know the extent to which it is possible to make reputation mechanisms that are immune to strategic manipulation. More generally, we do not understand the limits of on-line reputation mechanisms, the extent to which they are qualitatively or quantitatively different from earlier reputation mechanisms such as credit histories, or how on-line reputation mechanisms fit into the larger ecology of trust-inducing mechanisms. An informal community has been forming around the topic. A few researchers have met each other at disciplinary conferences and workshops. There is at least one web site (http://databases.si.umich.edu/reputations) devoted to building the community of research on reputation mechanisms. At the same time, a number of established and startup companies, such as Zagat and OpenRatings, have been basing their business models on the accumulation and dissemination of reputation information. So far, however, most of these people have not had a chance to meet their colleagues to identify opportunities for cross-fertilization of ideas. Closer interaction among researchers and research-oriented practitioners in this important interdisciplinary area will provide significant leverage in advancing this field of research and accelerate its practical application. In this spirit, the first interdisciplinary academic symposium on Reputation Systems, will take place on April 26-27, 2003. Our intention is to bring together the leading researchers from various disciplines that are active in the area of reputation systems, together with a few people from industry who are responsible for practical implementations of reputations systems. The purpose of this symposium is to help us better understand how these various lines of work connect to one another and how, together, they can contribute to the design and implementation of better trust mechanisms for electronic commerce and our digital society at large. Funding for this symposium is provided through grants from the National Science Foundation (award number 0209136, CISE/Digital Society & Technologies) and the MIT Center for eBusiness. WORKSHOP CHAIRSChrysanthos Dellarocas Paul Resnick WORKSHOP STEERING COMMITTEERosaria Conte Institute of Psychology National Research Council Rome, Italy LOCATION AND DATESThe workshop will be located at MIT's Sloan School of Management in Cambridge, Massachusetts and will take place on Saturday April 26 and Sunday April 27, 2003 WORKSHOP FORMAT AND METHOD OF INVITATIONThe symposium will be devoted in roughly equal parts to research presentations of completed and ongoing work and to discussions. Some invited participants will be encouraged to present a paper, others to serve as discussants. Original papers are very welcome; however, given the multi-disciplinary nature of the event and the newness of the field we believe that there is also significant value to be gained from presenting work that has already been presented in other venues whose audience does not overlap with the participants of the workshop. A number of doctoral student fellowships are also available. Invited participants are strongly encouraged to nominate doctoral students with work or interest in this area, or students apply on their own. BENEFITS AND DELIVERABLESWe anticipate several benefits from this symposium. First, researchers active in the field will get acquainted with each other's viewpoints and will thus leverage their work. Second, fertile areas for cross-disciplinary collaboration will be identified. Third, a research agenda for the field will be formed. Fourth, doctoral students active in the field will have the opportunity to connect with more senior members of the research community. A report summarizing the conclusions of the symposium will be prepared by the workshop chairs. The report will provide a snapshot of the current state of the field and an agenda for future research. We hope to publish a selection of papers from the symposium in either a book or a special issue of a high profile, high circulation journal (such as Communications of the ACM). HOW TO APPLYThose who are interested in participating should submit a 1-2 page position paper outlining their prior background and their approach to the topic of reputation systems. Please include pointers to your written work on the topic, if any. Please also indicate your preferred method of participation (present a paper; serve as discussant for a paper; or comment from the audience). If you would like to present a paper, please attach the paper (or an abstract of it if the paper is not yet written) or a link to a website where the paper can be downloaded. Because this is an interdisciplinary symposium, it is acceptable to present a paper that has previously been published or presented elsewhere, if it is likely to unfamiliar and interesting to researchers from other disciplines. Applications from Ph.D. students are welcome, as are applications from researchers in industry and government as well as academia. Please submit position papers electronically to Ms. Debie Thomas (debiet@mit.edu). Applications received by November 8, 2002 will receive full consideration. We expect to extend invitations by December 15, 2002. We expect to be able to cover reasonable travel and lodging expenses for symposium participants, up to the limits of our budget. Due to budget constraints, some people may be invited to attend at their own expense. Please consult the website http://www.si.umich.edu/~presnick/reputation/symposium/ for updates, including a preliminary list of invited participants. |
For problems or questions regarding this web site, contact rep.symp.organizers@umich.edu.
|